You could say the same thing about Bouchard’s MP – sometimes it’s exceptional, but other times it’s merely very good but not great. But Bouchard owns its own vines in MP…”
Don,
Any thoughts as to why the quality level of the Bouchard MP should vary so, from exceptional to very good…assuming this is not simply in line with vintage quality?
Robert
Hi Robert:
In the case of Bouchard, I think it is vintage variation – at least with vintage variation with respect to MP. One of the lessons I’ve learned from these dinners the past five years is that the more you think you know going in, the more you have yet to learn. The two biggest lessons over the last five sets of dinners are (1) the initial critical reviews are not always indicative of what the vintage will turn out to be at maturity and (2) not all appellations perform at the same level in a given vintage – some appellations can do significantly better or worse than others. I’ll cite three examples here in the context of Meursault Perrieres.
2008 - a vintage that was highly touted on release, yet it was a vintage where none of the critics really warned about surmaturite and botrytis. But when we tasted the vintage at 7.5 years both were obvious. The botrytis affected the aromas of the MPs significantly. Most exhibited very rich, sweet aromas and in a few cases the flavors were quite rich or sweet too. Don’t get me wrong, there were a few stunning 2008s from Meursault, including the Roulot MP, but there were also some overripe and notably botrytised ones too. We didn’t include the Bouchard MP in that dinner, but it wasn’t one of my favorite MP vintages from Bouchard.
2009 - this is a vintage where everybody knew about high ripeness and lower acidity for the vintage as a whole going in. I bought very little and had very low expectations going into the dinner. But the conventional wisdom turned out to be wrong as the to Meursault Perrieres flight. The wines as a group were far better than the 2008s or the 2010s. The 2009s were much more classically styled than the 2008s and statistically this was the best flight of MP we’ve ever had. If you would have told me that in advance, I would have said there was a 0% chance of that happening.
2010 - another vintage with very good press on release, yet the MPs we tasted with the exception of the Vincent Dancer and Roulot seemed to be only average to slightly below average. Bouchard MP only got a 92, but so did everything else, including Colin-Morey
Interesting on the vintages Don. I hope that we all don’t get thrown in a few years and find that 2015s taste better than 2014s, the later of which has been the best vintage I have ever tasted young to medium age.
Don, thanks for posting that extra information. I’ll add that during our visit, we also tasted 2018 Gouttes d’Or, Genevrières, and Charmes (all domaine).
I think you’re safe on the 2014s (in my opinion a fabulous vintage), but given the similarities between 2009 and 2015 I would not be surprised if at least some appellations in 2015 turn out to be better than we initially expected.
From memory I believe that the Genevrieres was a domaine wine even in the days that I attended the Kobrand tasting, but I think that Goutte D’Or and Charmes have been acquired by Jadot since then. Since you apparently tasted the 2017s and 2018s at Jadot, what was your overall impression? In particular, did there seem to be a detectable difference between quality of the Domaine wines and their negociant wines? (For example, the Genevrieres did not stand out as better in the old days.) If you had a chance to compare Meursaults from those same three vineyards from other producers during your visit it would be interesting to know how you thought the Jadot versions compared with the smaller domaines.
In my experience, the 2014s are still fabulous and, if anything, keep getting better. I have read someone else suggesting that the 2015s will get better with age, just like the 2009s did. So far, I have not been that impressed by the 2005s I have had (including Ramonet CM Ruchottes) but I hope that they follow the 2009s (for example, Ramonet’s CM Vergers really improved over time) and surprise me.
Don, we only did a tasting of certain domaine 2018s (as the wines were just getting ready to be racked and these were samples prepared for our visit) but given the notoriety of the vintage being of being hot, I was very surprised that the wines did not show it at all. Jadot arrests the malolactic fermentation (sometimes all of it, sometimes in a fraction of the barrels) in the whites, which accounted for the brighter acids in these wines.
I don’t have much recollection of older Jadot Meursaults (I had avoided them based on their premox record), so don’t have much basis for comparison there. Unfortunately we didn’t taste at any other producers with the same holdings so I can’t give you any informed commentary on that front either.
Nevertheless, after our visit, upon returning home and seeing the pre-arrival offers of 2018 Jadot, I added the whites to my annual order, and plan to do so going forward.
Howard
I share your lack of enthusiasm for the 2015 vintage. I bought some library bottles for the dinners, but only a handful of wines for the cellar, most of which are from very old vines, which always seem to outperform in ripe vintages.
I went back to my original 2009 dinner notes to see if there was any pattern as to which appellations showed very well on average versus which did not. Two appellations stood head and shoulders above the rest – MP and Montrachet. Many of the Chevalier wines were outstanding but we did have three badly flawed wines - Jadot Demoiselles(oxidized), Colin-Morey (notably advanced) and Dancer (chemically very off). Obviously, these are all wines from the slopes that have above-average acidity and minerality. I would hazard a guess that those three appellations from 2015 have the best chance of showing well at maturity.
Thanks for the notes Don.
I reckon '15 might surprise a few of you. A PYCM Le Banc last week was superb.
I’m in agreement Jeremy, in 2015 I concentrated buying to producers that I trust including PYCM, whereas in 2014 I bought liberally from a larger cross section. Pierre-Yves does really well in riper vintages and I’ve found his 2015s to be special. Need to start cracking a few, as it’s been almost 5 years from the vintage.
PYCM outperformed in 2015, for sure.
I hope the three of you are right. I own 12 bottles of the 2015 PYCM Corton (by far and away my largest purchase in 2015 whites), and a few bottles each of Chevalier and MP, all purchased pre-arrival. But after I tasted the 2015 whites that Pierre-Yves brought to the San Francisco Paulee in March of 2018, I had second thoughts. (Note: he did not bring his MP or grand crus). I thought the PYCM wines at the Paulee were very disappointing - dull, low acid wines that I just did not care for – like most other 2015 whites I tasted that day including some Bouchard and Lafon whites that I usually buy. The Chassagnes from Bernard Morey and the St. Aubins from Hubert Lamy, from tables set up nearby, were unquestionably better wines than their Colin-Morey counterparts. A number of the people that I know that were there commented on the fact that the PYCM wines were not impressive.
Agree. Have opened a few PYCM 2015’s and they are very good. MP is terrific.
That’s good to hear.
Don,
I think you did well on your purchase of 2015 PYCM Corton, but we will find out in 3-4 years at the 2015 premox dinner, fingers crossed. We’re both in the same boat, as I have 10 of that wine in my cellar, other than Raveneau MdT that’s the most of any wine from 2015 by a long shot.
I pulled up Tanzer’s notes on the wine and I really liked this statement in bold from Pierre-Yves:
Tanzer 9/2017 update:
Colin, who considered the 2015s to be outstanding from the beginning, nonetheless noted that the wines changed dramatically during their last months of élevage. He had originally planned to bottle them in February but delayed the bottling date twice for his crus not from Saint-Aubin, as the wines were gaining in energy. He considers 2015 to be a classic vintage and better than 2014 for the long haul. “The ‘15s totally resist oxidation after you uncork them,” he noted.
great notes and thanks. When I first started drinking burgundy in the early 90’s we used to drink a bunch of Jadot. The MP was one of my epiphany wines and on special occasions we’d get a bottle of the Chevalier from the distributor and it was always excellent.
The interesting thing is the few 05s I’ve had turned out to be very elegant and one would never guess 05 blinded (05 Roulot Boucheres and 05 Coche Corton-Charlemagne).
Also when tasting the 2009s I think there was a quote somewhere from Jean Marc Roulot preferring the 09 vintage over 2010. At that time it was hard to believe. Now with the 2010 flaws becoming more apparent it’s seems Monsieur Roulot was right all along.
Perhaps these riper vintages shouldn’t be written off so quickly and may just need a little time.
I opened a bottle of the 2009 Bouchard MP this evening. It’s still singing. It has the lemon/lime character that many 2009s have, with more sweetness (sucrosite as they say) than vintages like 2007 and 2011, but very firm underlying acidity and very nice minerality on the long finish. Boy did that bottle go quickly between me and my wife.
Great minds think alike Don ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
. As a result of this thread, on Monday night we opened our last 2009 Bouchard CC and it was wonderful. Pale yellow, citrus, minerals and spice on the nose. Lovely balanced palate, maybe a little flat (lower acid) than I prefer, but just yummy. And it was bottled with a diam cork.